Overnight shelter to open in in November
Two-year trial being run by Project Share with local churches
An overnight warming shelter to protect people living on the street will open in Niagara Falls Nov. 1.
It will operate out of St. Andrew’s United Church, at 5645 Morrison St., as a two-year pilot project overseen by Niagara Region but run through Project Share.
It’s being set up to accommodate 15 people every night, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., through to March 31 but organizers know that probably won’t fully meet the demand for space.
“We’ll deal with the need,” said Project Share executive director Diane Corkum. “If we’re seeing 50 people every night, we’ll have to try to access other sites, other churches.”
While most municipalities are dealing with a lack of affordable housing, she said Niagara Falls has run into “the perfect storm.”
She said, “with rentals being converted to tourism units and the motels being torn down and sold, there are no rental units to refer people who are homeless to.”
The cost for what is considered affordable housing has gone up sharply in recent years, outpacing some people’s ability to pay.
Rev. Diane Walker, the minister at St. Andrew’s, was unavailable for comment Monday.
Work is underway to collect supplies, such as bedding. Corkum is interviewing potential employees. Volunteers will be trained in non-violent crisis intervention by Region staff, and Heart Niagara has offered to instruct volunteers in CPR.
Corkum expects it will take at least 120 people, either staff or occasional volunteers, to run it as a nightly operation. The volunteers, she said, can “provide companionship to people who are staying at Out of the Cold.
“Even just having a game of cards with somebody, just to help them pass the time.”
Full meals won’t be served, because people can still access the Soup Kitchen on St. Lawrence Avenue until 6 p.m. When the warming shelter opens an hour later, she said, it will likely offer snacks or sandwiches.
Project Share is working with at least 10 other churches in the city, as well as the Niagara Falls Community Health Centre, to organize the shelter.
Having a centre in Niagara Falls this winter means fewer people will have to be taken out of town, often to St. Catharines or Welland, for overnight shelter as happened in previous years.
The timing is good, Corkum said, because there’s expected to be fewer beds available this winter in St. Catharines.
Projects like this are seen as a short-term answer to the housing problem, while Niagara Region works to create more affordable housing. Corkum said Project Share has also seen an increased need for assistance at its food bank.
The impetus to open a local shelter came at a city council meeting in January, where businesswoman Angela Peebles told councillors about the struggles of a homeless man near her restaurant, named Gregory.
Acting on a motion by Coun. Wayne Campbell, council voted unanimously to pursue the idea through Niagara Region and local agencies.
At the same time, a movement had started on Facebook spurred by local resident Dianne Munro and others calling for action to help homeless people.
Campbell’s motion called for the shelter to assist men over age 30, but Corkum said it will be open to anyone in need.
“I’ve always said, it’s not that we have a homeless problem that we should be ashamed of. Every city has it,” Peebles said Monday.
“It’s how you treat your homeless folks that you should feel ashamed about.”